>> dana: you know how i watched that movie? the mov freaked me out. i was on an airplane. the person in front of me and to the right were watching it. i'd watch it without the sound. it was disturbing. >> eric: see all of you tomorrow. ♪ ♪ >> bret: good evening. i'm bret baier. this is a fox news alert. what started as a slow trickle in polls, heading romney's way turned in to quite something else tonight. while it's not a full gusher of strong poll numbers yet for the republican nominee. things are moving his direction. across the country. mitt romney now has take an two-point lead over the president in the latest gallup poll of likely voters. 49% to 47%. for the first time since last october, romney leads in the real clear politic average of

polls, the national average. the numbers 48 to 47.3. we have fox team coverage of the race for the presidency. chief white house correspondent ed henry is traveling with the president in columbus, ohio. chief political correspondent carl cameron is with the romney campaign. across the way in cuyahoga falls. >> reporter: mr. romney stormed in the buckeye state. for the first time since the democratic convention in early september, he is either tied, in some cases now leading in the polls. surging in both national and battle ground state polls the latest american research group poll shows romney ahead in colorado 50 to 46. ohio, romney at 48. to president's 47. virtual tie. furthermore, the rasmussen swing state tracking poll of 11 battleground states shows romney at 49%. the president at 47. romney appealed to iowa farm country voters penalling to end what he called the obama administration overregulation of agriculture and promised to

open more world markets and reduce energy costs. >> there are big differences between the president and me. he has no plan for rural america. no plan for agriculture. no plan for getting people back to work. i do. >> romney released a policy paper on rural issues and ripped the president for squeezing the economy critically important agriculture industry. >> president has idea he wants to raise the tax rate from 3% to 40%. that won't be good for forms. my own view is i want to take the tax rate down. >> following iowa, romney flew to ohio, critical battleground to his victory strategy, where the voter registration ends today. romney is expected to return at least four times in just the next week. romney aides are touting their ground game and grassroots enthusiasm. in florida, 43.5% of absentee ballot requests came from republicans. 39% for democrats. among those returned so far, 45% are g.o.p. only 38% are democrats. in colorado, republicans

requested 656,000 absentee ballots of saturday to 627 for democrats. inness, absentee ballot request favor g.o.p. by 44% to 39%. in north carolina, 52% of all ballot requests of g.o.p. to only dop for democrats and 21 for independents. running mate paul ryan and joe biden off the trail getting ready for the big debate. kid rock leapt "born free" to romney for the rally theme headlined last night in michigan and considering a vice presidential debate keg party. >> i'm proud to say that we have elected our first black president. i'm sorry he didn't do a better job. i really, i really wish he would have. i do. the facts are the facts. >> with the election four weeks from tonight, little doubt that grassroots organization could turn the election in states like ohio

where the battle is so tight. to that end, the obama campaign boasted today having opened the 120th campaign office. romney said they contacted by knocking on door osar making phone calls 4 million people here, one of third of the population. bret? >> bret: carl cameron traveling with romney. thank you. now to president obama and what he is doing to put a turn quit on the poll numbers. chief white house correspondent ed henry reports the president says no more mr. nice guy. >> after days of battering from the supporters for a lackluster debate that led to a dive in the polls, president obama suggested he heard criticism and ready to crank up the negative downtown attacks, trying to reassure the base at a san francisco fundraiser by unleashing this hit on republican mitt romney. >> don't be so polite. don't be so nice. being presented wasn't leadership. that's salesmanship. >> the president's idea of leadership in the final weeks includes an effort to double

down on defending big bird. after romney's debate promise to cut government programs like public broadcasting, the alternative is borrowing more money from china. >> elmo, has been seen in a white suburban. driving for border. oscar is hiding out in the trash can. cracking down on him. >> in what may be a sign of brutal attacks ahead, the president is out with a new adadlinking romney to slew of criminals, from bernie madoff to ken lay. >> it's me, big bird. >> big, yellow, menace to the economy. romney knows it's not wall street to worry about. it's "sesame street." >> at a rally at ohio state, entertainer will i. am warmed up the crowd with a familiar song. ♪ republicans today rolled out another star of "sesame

street," count to add up since last week's debate, the president now talked about that show 13 times. not mentioning libya or specific plan to fix the economy. ann romney said she is fed up with the charge her husband lied to victory. >> like in sand box that lost the game and kick sand in someone's face and say you liar. now they lost. okay, the game, we didn't like the game. it's to me poor sportsmanship. at the showdown tuesday, president has to be careful not to get too negative with a "washington post" showing he has likability edge. while romney got a bump out of the last debate, and now seen favorably by 47%, 51% still see him unfavorably.

in ohio, this is obama country. but slew of new state poll suggests a state that was slipping away from romney is now tightening fast. >> bret: thank you. we will analyze the sesame street strategy of campaign later in the show. break down how big bird is playing in this campaign. government watchdog organization says the obama campaign may accept the illegal donations. government accountability institute says the president team may be breaking the law by failing to properly screen credit card transactions. opening the way for cash from foreign donors and others ineligible to contribute. >> they literally by the own accounting accepted millions of dollars in donations. there were only four of five digits. why is that important? the other campaigns if you look at the campaign

solicitations, don't have that problem. >> bret: the obama campaign responded saying they do not accept it from foreign nationals. democrats reportedly took out $8 million in loans meaning the party has more debt than cash on hand. "washington post" says it is unclear how much of the president $181 million fundraising haul in september go to dnc, the party. obama administration cared more about appearances than security for its diplomatic outposts in libya. that is what a congressional republican is charging. catherine herridge has new information on how dangerous it was before last month's deadly assault in benghazi. >> documents obtained by the house government oversight

committee show the mission in libya outline security related incident in one-year period from june 2011 and ending two months before the murder of ambassador chris stevens and three other americans. the state department deflected. >> i'm not going to go in to all of these kind of timeline details. to what we had when and where. >> they told the public hearing wednesday said there is a pattern. one that help is requested when team in libya and denied. >> they wanted the appearance of, quote/unquote, normalization in libya. building up of infrastructure, putting up barbed wire on facility to lead to wrong impression. >> now the critics describe the mishandling of the consulate attack is centerpiece of political ad

backing romney. >> the evidence is mounting as questions arise. what did this president know? and when did he know it? >> porter goss said there the dots were there and connected but failure to act. >> it's not con zee to believe me with the warnings that come in, the high stake of play, the oval office did not know what was going on. that is the question of why did we get this story and the hoax about this video? why was ambassador rice hung out there to dry on that thing? >> republican senator bob corker, member of the senate foreign relation committee travelled to libya confirmed to the "washington post" that the u.s. agents were analyzing the security camera video from consulate, attorney general suggested caution. >> people in congress will be mindful of the fact there was an ongoing investigation, not reveal anything that might

compromise our law enforcement investigation. >> fox news confirmed that a waiver was signed by the state department, consulate in benghazi did not need specific security environment for high-threat posting. the manage they're signed off on the waiver is scheduled to testify tomorrow. >> that will be a hearing. >> it will be. >> bret: thank you. >> you're welcome. >> bret: radical egyptian cleric extradited from britain has pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges in new york. abu hamsal al masri accused to conspire with men in seattle to set up training camp for al-qaeda in oregon. they are charged with blotting to blow up embassies in africa. former penn state university assistant football coach convicted of child abuse sentenced to at least 30 years in prison. 68-year-old jerry sandusky would be nearly 100 when released. sandusky was found guilty on 45 counts. greece gives a not so warm welcome for the chancellor of germany. next. well, if it isn't mr. margin.

mr. margin? don't be modest, bob. you found a better way to pack a bowling ball. that was ups. and who called ups? you did, bob. i just asked a question. it takes a long time to pack a bowling ball. the last guy pitched more ball packers. but you... you consulted ups. you fod a better way. that's logistics. that's margin. find out what else ups knows. i'll do that. you're on a roll. that's funny. i wasn't being funny, bob. i know.

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>> bret: stocks were down again today. dow dropped 110. the s&p 500 was off 14. nasdaq lost 47. 11 euro zone countries have agreed to move forward with a hotly disputed tax on financial transactions. a way to pay for the debt crisis there. a victory for german chancellor angela merkel at ground zero of the crisis today: athens, greece. senior foreign affairs correspondent amy kellogg tells us not everyone there is happy to see her. >> there may have been a welcome map at the german chancellor at the airport in athens but the streets looked different. there were swastikas and a lot of demonstrators. the indebted greeks blame angela merkel for their pain. some salaries have fallen by 40%. youth unemployment at 55%. greece makes punishing budget cuts. still, germany is shouldering

the bulk of the greece bail-out. they presented the visit as show of support and a sign that greece is still a player. >> the greek people are bleeding at the moment. but they're determined to stay at the euro and win the battle for competitiveness. >> chancellor merkel first visit to greece since the crisis began. problem of growth is still to be addressed. not just in greece or france, where angry auto workers plant due to shut clashed with police today but across the world. international monetary fund predicts growth will be less globally than previously thought this year, saying prospects deteriorated and risks increased. not just in europe, congress and the white house don't make cuts to avoid fiscal cliff, economists predict a double dip recession and soaring unemployment. >> they can call it a general feeling of uncertainty about the future. worry about the failure of the u.s. policy makers on the

fiscal plan. >> meanwhile, other countrys try to get create i with ways to keep people and institutions afloat. in battered ireland, they are contemplating a law to encourage banks to lower mortgages to avoid foreclosures, as ireland housing market remains at half the former value. angela merkel referenceed today the european investment bank which is mandated to help small and medium size businesses expand. >> as unpopular as angela merkel is on the greek street, she is under enormous pressure at home by german taxpayers who are not overly keen to cough up more money. her message is we're all in this together. >> bret: amy kellogg in london. thank you. north korea is proclaiming that the u.s. mainland is within range of the missiles. communist regime is upset they are allowing south korea to have missiles capable to hit any target in the north and says that is a precursor to invasion. nato top official says the

alliance is ready to defend turkey for a tillry and mortar fire from syria continues. correspondent leland vittert has details from jerusalem. >> lined up in fighting position, turkish artillery pointed guns toward the syrian border. five of the last six days, they have returned fire against syrian positions. with tensions between the country increasing turkey trucked in reinforcements and reportedly deployed f-16 jets to the border region. today, the country commanderring general inspected the troop and the nato secretary-general promised help if turkey needs it. >> we have all necessary plans in place to protect and defend turkey. >> once an ally of the syrian president bashar assad, turkey flip support to the rebels. and now provides a safehane for fighters. >> -- safe haven for fighter fighters. the wail of ambulances signals more wounded rebels coming

from life-saving treatment in turkey. much of the ammunition and weapons use in the rebel street to street combat comes across the same border, flowing in to syria. unverifiable amateur video shows the civil war intensifying. with rebels celebrating capture of syrian army checkpoint and commandeering armored personnel carrier. what the larger battle comes increasing death toll. estimated 200 in the past two days. the international community is reluctant to intervene militarily in the syrian civil war but the artillery exchanges between syria and turkey could easily escalate to a regional war. bringing in nato. but it may not end there. as the syrian regime enjoyed uncontinue support from russia and iran. bret? >> bret: leland vittert in our middle east newsroom. thank you. up next, why is the number 716 billion so importantbe in this presidential race? later, the small ball politics

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>> bret: there is some very important math in the presidential race besides the polls, of course. 270 is the magic number. that's how many electoral votes are needed to win. 716 billion is also becoming a significant and contentious number. chief national correspondent jim angle tells us why. >> there is a critical dispute over whether president obama cut $716 billion from medicar medicare, which could seriously affect seniors or whether he saves $716 billion as he argued in the debate. >> $716 billion we were able to save from the medicare program by no longer overpaying, insurance companies, by making sure that

we weren't overpaying providers. >> others, however, say they are not savings, they are cuts to medicare that short change providers such as doctors and hospitals. >> when you pay a provider of a service, much, much less than they actually need to cover their costs, many of them will stop supplying it. >> that is the same conclusion reached by medicare actuaries who determine the $716 billion cut would reduce reimbursements so much that medicare would be worth less to doctors that medicaid healthcare for the poor. >> so the senior citizen will be less desirable than welfare mother to doctors. when that happens, seniors are going to find long waits for care, find it difficult to find doctors who will see them and facilities admit them. >> some 15% of hospitals and nursing homes say they won't take any more medicare patients and turn scenario. we also have 50% of doctors who say they won't take more medicare patients. >> congressional budget office determined the president took

$716 billion from medicare to off-set the cost of his healthcare reform. >> what obamacare does, it taxes seniors. it takes money away from them and spend it on younger people. >> obama campaign, though, minimizes the impact. >> you know what the cuts are? taking subsidiaries away from insurance companies. taking rebateles away from prescription drug companies. >> the medicare program wastes more than $60 billion a year annually on fraud and abuse. that is more than the profit of the top ten insurance companies in the united states combined. >> medicare advantage which covers one in four seniors run by the very insurance companies administration criticizes. the president plans cut later but right now he is giving them bonuses. >> they're afraid that it will go out oaf the market before the election. giving bonus money to the plan to keep enrollment up and keep seniors happy through this election. >> then the cuts will start.

medicare promised $38 trillion more in benefits than it can pay for. that sof bound to come up in the vice presidential debate. paul ryan claims to have a solution. >> bret: jim, thank you. death toll from the meningitis outbreak is now 11. six of those are in tennessee. the cdc says 119 cases have been reported. outbreak has been tied to steroid shots for back pain. serious power shortal at a green energy plant, plus a serious rebuke of the obama administration afghanistan policy from a member in good standing of the main stream media. and chantix helped me qui. i honestly loved smoking, and i honestly didn't think i would ever quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. it put me at ease that you could smoke on the first week. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these

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[♪...] >> bret: now, fresh pickings from the political grapevine. michigan hybrid battery plant propped up with $150 million in taxpayer money is putting workers on furlough. before a single battery has been produced. two years ago, president obama attended the ground breaking for the compact power facility. he touted its opening as evidence, manufacturing jobs are coming back to the u.s. the plant was supposed to produce 150,000 batteries a year. while creating hundreds of new jobs. it turns out, there are only 200 workers and they're only working three week per month. company spokesman says battery production is expected to pick up once volt assembly lines in detroit resume production sometime next week. "market conditions haven't

been as favorable but this hasn't slowed down plans one bit." one of the stars of main stream media signature news programs is ripping the obama foreign policy. and calling for a stepped up war on terror. daily beast reports laura logan of "60 minutes" says the terrorist presence in afghanistan is continually understated. "there is this narrative coming out of washington for the last two years, it's driven in part by taliban apologists who claim there are just the poor moderate gentleer, kinder taliban. it's such nonsense." for al-qaeda, she said, "the terrorist group is not insurgency. it's driven by ideology and wants to kill us all on our own soil if they must, even if u.s. troops pull -- even if the u.s. pulls all of the troops out of afghanistan." logan was beatp and sexually assaulted bay mob in cairo tahrir square last year. a former reporter and editor

who heard logan speak said, "clearly one tough reporter but seemingly scarred by all of this, it was totally depressing. worrying, too. call for an amped war on terror. " we told you monday venezuelan president hugo chavez has been re-elected. the "guardian reports he brandished the sword of his hero. bolivar. and promised to further his got brand of socialism. obama administration reacted to the news this way. "we congratulate the venezuelan people on the high level of participation, as well as on what was a relatively peaceful election process." white house press secretary jay carney noted the u.s. has differences with chavez. nbc news describe supporters' reaction as an emotional moment in history. chavez endorsed president obama earlier this month. big bird wants the presidential campaign to lay off. people behind "sesame street"

are asking that the cash cow considerable canary be excluded from any further advertising. correspondent shannon bream reports it's just the late esturn in what has become in the minds of many a foul saga in this race. >> you may be used to seeing him hanging out on a quiet neighborhood street. but since being mentioned in last week's presidential debate -- >> i like pbs. i love big bird. it actually like you, too. but i'm not going to keep spending money on things to borrow money from china to pay for it. >> big bird has gone big time. from the campaign trail to network television and new a campaign ad. >> i'm going to stop the subsidy to pbs. >> mitt romney taking on our enemies no matter where they nest. >> pbs reacted staying as a stated supporter of education, governor romney should be champion of public broadcasting. the sesame workshop has had enough of the political back and forth. today calling itself nonpartisan and issuing this statement. "we have approved no campaign

ads and is as the general practice requested that the ad be taken down." obama campaign says it is considering that request but insist the topic is fair game. >> somebody is cracking down on big bird. he is going to bring down the hammer on "sesame street." it makes perfect sense. you want me to save big bird? >> obama traveling press secretary told reporters today, "there has been a strong grassroots outcry over the attacks on big bird." this is something that mothers across the country are alarmed about. >> these are tough times. with real serious issues. so you have to scratch your head when the president sends the last week talking about saving big bird. >> in 2010, sesame workshop received more than $1 million in stimulus money. according to the federal government created roughly 1.5 jobs as a result. the corporation for public broadcasting which provides millions in funding for the public broadcasting system, home of big bird and the "sesame street" gap will itself receive roughly

$450 million in federal funding this year. >> they reported network of $350 million to the irs last year and forbes reporting it's the top franchise in 2011 with $515 million in retail sales. bret? >> bret: shannon, thank you. small ball politics of big bird and the other cam pape happenings including the latest polls. fox all-stars will feast on all of it when we come back. ♪

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biggest driver of our debt and deficit over the last decade. public television. pbs. >> these are tough times with big issues so scrooch your head talking about big bird. >> bret: my tw two-and-a-half-year-old is excited about. this i don't know how many people are that big bird is in the news. he is. all over the news. the big news today perhaps the polls, gasolineup will poll today is now likely voters. they transitioned from registered voters to likely voters. that is a difference. we talk about it before. romney two-point lead. margin of error is tied. first time in a year, real clear politic average, he has the lead in the average of recent polls. what about this? the panel, jonah goldberg, from national review online.

kirsten powers for daily beast. syndicated columnist charles krauthammer. charles, today's developments and well, big bird. >> democrats are actually running an ad showing big bird and contracting it with the bad guys on wall street. >> let's just play it. might as well. >> i'm just a prop here. >> bret: right. you're teeing it up. play it. >> bernie madoff, ken lay, dennis kezlowsky, criminals, glut top of greed, evil genius who tower over them. one man has the guts to speak his name. >> big bird. big bird. big bird. >> it's me, big bird. >> big, yellow, menace to our economy. mitt romney knows it's not wall street you have to worry about. it's "sesame street." >> bret: charles? >> this could be the worst ad i've ever seen. i make an appeal to people in chicago. run this ad every night over and over again, spend all of your money. and time on this. this is an ad that is trivial.

it diminishes the presidency. it assumes, of course, that everybody wants to subsidize company that, as we heard from shannon is third of a billion dollar enterprise. for obama to be talking about it, i love the way he said this is the biggest driver of the debt. the biggest driver of our debt according to obama, himself, is medicare. he has done nothing on that. the same rip on medicare that romney mentioned pbs as the way to say we're going to go from the biggest expenditures to trivial expenditures because we have to go after everything when we have a deficit this large. it's an additional thing for anybody to run an ad that l reminds people of the worst debate that any president ever had is a big mistake. i hope they run it until the end of time. >> there were -- >> there are some democrats on other channels and other places say this ad is a big

mistake, they sound like charles. they say it's -- >> truly terrible ad. it's shocking that they are doing this. suggest a campaign out of touch with what is going on now. not just because it's trivial and there are serious things going on but also because it's just an out of nowhere messaging. when what does wall street have to do with anything? that's not what anybody is talking about. suddenly now, trying to suggest that romney somehow is like bernie madoff. i have a low bar in terms of my expectations of politicians, but this is, this is especially low by the normal bar to sort of, to char him as being like these criminals. >> bret: not even to go the other side, occupy wall street side, they charge president never put anybody behind bars -- >> bret: what has he done? bush administration prosecuted the first two. >> what has obama done to be tough on wall street anyway. it raises all the questions.

>> bret: maybe we're overanalyzing big bird ad. >> full disclosure. ism never liked big bird. sexually indetermine nant eight-foot tall bird of prey as far as i can tell. >> bret: we need to pull out the couch? >> i'm a grover and cookie monster partisan. i want that on the record. that is where i'm coming from. >> you can see me afterward. my rates are pretty low. >> makes me feel unsafe. i don't know. that said, you have to have a heart of stone not to laugh at what the left and the obama campaign are going through. it's fantastic. in 2008, obama said if youent to have a record to run on then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. make a big election about small things. 28 days to the election, obama trying to use big bird as joe the plumber. joe the plumber was a far more significant representative issue than anything that big birds represents and get themselveses in a huge mess. joy to watch.

>> bret: i guess that is the big question. if the strategy was at the beginning, paint romney as a corporate raider. paint him as the rich guy who doesn't care about you. paint him as the guy out of touch, who can't deal with the middle class. if that didn't work bauds that debate -- because that debate shattered, that then you are dealing with a record. what happens? >> they don't have anything. the reason they went after the kill romney strategy is because they calculated correctly, they can't run on the record that i mean to can't run on stewardship. huge debt. high chronic unemployment. the worst recovery since the second world war. can't run on that. can't run on the future or a vision, because he doesn't have a program. nothing on medicare. nothing on entitlements, nothing on the debt. nothing. so all you can do is to destroy the opponent. that's, you know, that's a strategy. the problem is, they succeeded. look, obama was ahead for months and months because of the millions of dollars of ads. as you said portrayed him as a

heartless pluetecrat. the worst the widow husband of woman who died, laid off steelworker looks at the camera and says romney didn't care about her or anybody. >> bret: that was a super pac ad. >> yeah. super pac. >> bret: clarifying. okay. >> fill disclosure -- full disclosure. obama people had nothing to do with it. we all acknowledge that. >> bret: i get the e-mails. you have don't. >> i'll give you that one. then the ads that went on forever, he wants to raise taxes on the middle class. lower them on the rich. what romney did in the debate in six minutes he demolished that. it's not true. all they're left with, apart from big bird ad, other ads that show incessantly in nationals games which ruins them for me is to say this romney lied in the debates. everything he said to explain the position which are his

positions are lies. that is the bottom of the barrel. i'm not sure it's going to take, it's not going to take. they have to find a strategy which isn't easy a month to go. >> speaking of strategy, i want to play what president obama said to supporters last night. >> after the debate, i had a bunch of folks come to me. don't be so polite. don't be so nice. [ applause ] but -- i want everybody to understand something. what was being presented wasn't leadership. that is salesmanship. >> bret: now, suggesting not be so nice. if you are heading in to a town hall debate. that is the next debate for the presidential series. how is he going to be aggressive, kirsten, in this setting? how is he going to not be so nice?

>> i mean, the issue wasn't he was being too nice, of course. the issue he was not prepared. he came off as being weak. why he chooses to speak of something if you look at polls a bad experience for him and his campaign i can't say. but i think it will be a better format for him at this town hall because he won't have to deal with romney coming at him. just dealing with, you know, talking to people which i think he does a better job with. >> bret: tomorrow we'll preview the vice presidential debate in kentucky. that should be interesting. next up, latest from libya, investigation. who knew what when? new info ahead of a big committee hearing tomorrow. ally bank. why they're always there to talk. i love you, james. don't you love me? i'm a robot. i know. i know you're a robot! but there's more in you than just circuits and wires! uhhh.

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>> bret: this is a fox news alert as you look at the white

house. just finished up a phone call, conference call with two senior state department officials. fox news was not invited on to this conference call for reporters. we usually are on this list. but we were not invited to this conference call. we do have a transcript of some of quotes about the benghazi attack. here is one of them. about ambassador chris stevens. "the ambassador walked guests out at 8:30 p.m. or so. this is the night of the attack on 9/11. there was nobody on the street. this is about the possible protests before the attack. "there was nobody on the street" according to the call with two senior state department officials. at 9:30 p.m. they saw on the security cameras at the consulate that there were armed men invading the compound. again no, protests, no spontaneous protests. there were armed men invading the compound.

everything is calm at #:30 p.m. nothing unusual there. had been nothing unusual during the day outside. all day. and then the attack. again, this contradicts directly what was said by the u.n. ambassador, the u.s. ambassador to the united nations, susan rice. and it contradicts essentially what the administration had been saying for five days after we reported that intelligence officials had within 24 hours that this was a terrorist attack. this comes ahead of committee hearing tomorrow on capitol hill where a house oversight committee will start calling witnesses. they have uncovered a full list of some 230 security incidents that happened in the year before. on the consulate. and the area around the consulate. in libya. and one of the congressman who just got back from libya talked about that today. and state department response. >> twice in the lead up to

this attack on 9/11 compound in benghazi was bombed. twice the british ambassador had an assassination attempt. we were moving in 9/11 and now the white house wants to say we had no direct information. no actionable intelligence. are you kidding me? where else in the world was the consulate bombed twice? >> i'm not going in timeline details what we had when and where. some of the things i'm guess willing be covered tomorrow in the open hearing. but again these are all pieces we are pulling together now. >> bret: kirsten, this is getting worse by the day. >> yeah. it's completely outrageous nobody from fox news was on the call, because the only people who have been asking any questions, which is why frankly let's put it out there which is why nobody from fox news is on the call. only one following it closely and catch them in the things they say that don't add up. it's not just that they suggested that there was something going on outside of the embassy.

susan rice sat at this desk and multiple desks and weaved unbelievable tale disprove by other reporters. there were reports saying it was quiet outside the embassy before. i just urge everybody to go back and long at the transcripts. how specific she was. at the specific detail she offered about how it was a copycat. what was going on in cairo. people came in and took it over. they're accusing romney lying in the debate. the lying going on here should be causing, you know, front page scandal in this city. >> bret: quickly. the state department by the way is apologizing profusely to fox news for leaving us off that call. charles? >> as they should. when you go back and look at what susan rice said, she didn't just say this was a demonstration and it wasn't terror attack. i remember the words there was

no evidence of a terror attack. that's a stretch beyond getting it wrong. ton of evidence that was a terrorist attack. you might have said the preponderance it was a demonstration or we have some evidence. they went way out on a limb of something absolutely wrong. obviously wrong. embarrassingly wrong. this is a scandal. the fact that it only is of interest to us and to a few others is really second scandal. >> yeah. maybe you will get a muffin basket from the state department. i think that we're at the point now where the majority of what the obama administration said in wake of this was untrue rather than true. they told more lies than they told truths. and you are getting the distinct whiff of nixonian style and coverup and distortion of the truth on this. what is interesting to me, just in terms of the politics of it right now you have hillary clinton and barack obama political interest aligned. that may not last long. it won't last through the election. very interesting to see who throws who under the bus. right now, astounding scandal.

>> bret: this conference call coming ahead of the committee hearing which we will cover fully on fox news channel. it ask you to go to "special report" on our home page. foxnews.com/specialreport. there is a full timeline you can watch of the whole thing from the beginning. that is it for the panel. stay tuned to see why politics is a family affair. [ male announcer ] how do you measure happiness?

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>> finally, the presidential candidates family members can do a lot to warm up the candidate. they can tell a funny story, take them down a notch or two. they can help the candidate be funny if they're in the trying to. and the romney sons, all five of them, well, they're made for tv. >> we are back and sitting here with mitt romney's five sons and just in case anyone is concerned we don't have enough, we do have three extra romneys on back up that can be brought in at any time. [ laughter ] >> a nice touch. trag, lag